Transfer news: Arsenal linked with summer swoop for £60m duo

There has been plenty of Arsenal transfer news doing the rounds today with Arsene Wenger linked with moves for two £30m-rated players.

First up, the Daily Mail are reporting that the boss is eyeing a big-money move for Porto defensive midfielder Danilo Pereira as he looks to add to his options in the middle of the park.

With Arteta, Flamini and Rosicky all set to leave the club when their contracts expire in June, we’ll need to bring in at least one more central midfielder and it appears we’ve identified Danilo as a potential target.

The Mail claim that Arsene sent Luis Boa Morte to watch the 24-year-old in action during Porto’s shock 1-0 loss to Tondela on Monday night with our Portuguese-based scout previously admitting he’s a huge fan of the players.

‘I’ve watched Danilo since he was 15 or 16 years old at Benfica.’ Boa Morte is quoted as saying by the Daily Mail

‘His development has been impressive, but I wasn’t surprised by it.

‘Danilo has quality for a different challenge, he just need to be given the opportunity. Things are already easy for him at FCP.’

Danilo has been a huge hit during his first season at Porto having only joined the club last summer but the newspaper claims we’ll have to meet his buy-out clause, which is set at around £30m.

We’ll have to wait and see whether Wenger is prepared to spend that kind of money but with a reported budget of £75m at his disposal, the Express claim the boss is also looking to strengthen his defensive options this summer.

The paper states that we’re set to renew our interest in Roma centre-back Kostas Manolas after narrowly missing out on his signature when he left Olympikos back in 2014.

The Greek international has excelled in Italy over the past two seasons and would be a top class long-term replacement for Per Mertesacker, with the German giant set to turn 32 in September.

However, once again, it looks like Arsene is going to have to dig deep if he wants to sign Manolas as the Express claim Roma also value him at around £30m.

So if we’re to sign both Danilo and Manolas this summer, it will set us back around £60m – which is the vast majority of our reported £75m transfer kitty. I personally don’t see the boss splashing that kind of money on two defensive-minded players, but let’s wait and see what happens. Maybe he’ll shock us all….